YEP-DC's fourth annual policy-to-practice conference is this weekend on Saturday, March 19 at Cardozo Education Campus. This year's conference is called Our City as a Learning Lab for Urban Education Reform. We're previewing conference presentations and panels on the blog this week. Today's post was written by Charlie Cummings, Senior Director of the America Achieves Fellowship for Teachers and Principals and Founding Partner of Educator Voice Strategies. He will lead a session at the conference on how teachers can successfully engage with policymakers. Follow him on Twitter @mr_cgc.

In February, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) announced sweeping changes to its teacher training and evaluation systems. As I read the Washington Post’s coverage of the policy changes, I was left wondering, “How deeply did DCPS engage its best teachers and principals in the conversations that led to these decisions?”

Teachers and principals—education professionals who work in schools every day—have an enormous amount of experience when it comes to the ways that new policies impact teaching and learning in their schools.

Unfortunately, school system leaders often fail to consult with teachers and principals before making new policies or revising old ones. And this failure may not be a simple oversight; multiple state and district leaders have told me that taking the time to include these important stakeholders slows down the decision-making process and introduces complexities to it that they would rather avoid.

In the case of these changes to its teacher training and evaluation systems, DCPS officials stated that educators were included in a task force that recommended these changes, but it is unclear just how involved they were.

Policymakers need to see engaging educators as more than a box to check. Teachers and principals are too often asked to sit on commissions that are formed simply to give decision-makers a rubber stamp for their pre-determined plan, or invited to meetings for the photo op but not given a speaking role, or are spoken for by their union, which may not represent their perspective at all.

Even though it adds time and complexity to the process, engaging directly with great educators is in the best interest of the school district – as well as teachers, students, and parents – for two important reasons.

First, high-performing teachers and principals have unmatched expertise about what works in schools and classrooms to promote student learning – and what doesn’t work. Decision makers would be wise to consult with these on-the-ground experts to uncover the answers to questions like: “Would the proposed change in policy enable teachers to better support student learning?” “Would this policy change affect some students more than others?” Great teachers and principals are committed to the success of their students, and they work more closely with these students every day than anyone else. As such, they are an invaluable source of insights about how to reform the system for the better.

Second, states and school districts rely on teachers and principals to implement policy changes. For any reform to be implemented with fidelity, leaders need the buy-in of in-school personnel. If educators feel like a decision was made without their input, they are less likely to support the rollout of the new policy. As the Washington Post reports, teachers in DCPS are feeling burnt out by the rapid, continuous policy changes over the past 10 years.

One DCPS teacher stated, “No one ever asks us what we need to do better. They just tell us.” This mood is prevalent across the country; when I was a first year-teacher in St. Louis, I was instructed by a colleague not to pay much attention to new district policy directives since the policies would probably change again in a few months.

When districts engage their best teachers and principals, the system’s educators are more likely to feel that their perspectives are represented and that decisions are being made in the best interest of their students. When teachers and principals are included in the decision-making process, they are also more likely to understand the purpose of policy changes, which they can communicate to their colleagues. Savvy states and districts utilize the educators they’ve engaged to educate their peers – via op-eds, newsletters, public meetings, and other means – about the purpose of and plan for policy changes.

I’m no expert on teacher evaluation policy, so I don’t know how much more effective the new IMPACT system will be or whether the new LEAP initiative will be better than the professional develop program it replaces. But based on conversations that I’ve had with America Achieves Fellows – teachers and principals who work in districts all over the country – I am skeptical that these policy changes will result in better teaching and learning in DC’s public schools.

For example, I doubt that giving principals responsibility for formally observing their teachers will result in better observations. Principals have conflicting demands that may prevent them from making objective decisions about their staff’s performance.

An outstanding principal in New York has told me that she gives all of her teachers good marks in their observations because she is more concerned with their working relationship and the culture in the building than she is with making observations for her district’s teacher evaluation system.

Had DCPS leaders spent more time engaging with their teachers and principals before making this policy change, they may have decided to go with independent observers.

DCPS has extremely smart leaders who are passionate about doing what’s best for the students. Their ambitious policy changes over the past decade have enabled DCPS students’ performance to improve faster than any other large U.S. city. Now DCPS is a beacon for education reform.

Engaging its best teachers and principals in conversations about the next phase of reform could help DCPS enact even better policy, ensure that the new policies are implemented by in-school personnel with fidelity, and set an example for stakeholder engagement that other districts would likely follow; it could do more to improve student achievement in DC than any of the individual policy changes that DCPS leaders make.

I have lived and breathed the field of education for over 20 years. My career started as a public school teacher in Chicago, Ill. I became a school administrator and subsequently was appointed to a position in the central office as a district-wide administrator. My last position in Chicago was chief of staff to the Chicago Board of Education. In 2010, I began my current position leading the education nonprofit DC School Reform Now (DCSRN) and am a current parent of a daughter and a son, both attending traditional public schools in DC. I have seen education from arguably every angle, but being a parent of two school-age kids is the greatest responsibility I’ve ever had. The choices I make about my kids’ schools can affect them for the rest of their lives.

EdFEST, DC’s only citywide public school fair, took place this past weekend, unofficially signifying the start of DC public school choice application season. The DC public school choice lottery opened on Monday, December 14 and over the next few months, parents from all over DC will make choices regarding school options for their own children. Last year, over 20,000 applications were submitted to the lottery, so there are a wealth of parents just like me who are exercising choice in order to find the best public school option for their child.

Next year my daughter will transition to high school. We began researching school options this past summer and as of today we are considering applying to as many as 10 different schools, several of which have nuanced application processes and requirements.

Last year, the DC Public Schools system adjusted the district’s traditional school boundaries, and overnight my son’s right-to-attend middle school assignment changed. My wife and I wanted him to still be guaranteed a seat in his original right-to-attend middle school. To make this possible, we chose to move to an entirely different neighborhood to ensure him a seat in that school.

Although I am deeply involved in the DC public school choice sector on a daily basis, even I still find it at times complicated and confusing. I can only imagine that if I feel this way, other parents who are not nearly as immersed as I currently am must feel just as—if not more—overwhelmed.

I would do almost anything to give my children the best educational options possible, and the steps my family has taken to secure quality schools for our children are no different than what many other families would do in our position.However, many families do not have the flexibility to move from one neighborhood to another, which can put their child at a disadvantage in accessing quality schools. Moreover, most children don’t have parents whose job it is to have their finger on the pulse of their city’s public school choice sector.

We at DCSRN decided to play our part in making school selection easier for parents, which is why we launched the High Quality Schools Campaign (HQSC). The campaign levels the playing field of access, especially for families in underserved communities so that no matter your zip code, you can compete for quality schools. The HQSC supports families applying to, enrolling and persisting (maintaining enrollment) in quality schools. The HQSC informs parents about the characteristics of high quality schools and helps parents identify and pursue quality education options for their children. Last year DCSRN served families representing nearly 600 students with a pool of well over 1,000 waiting to be served.

​To our knowledge, DCSRN is the only organization in the U.S. doing this type of targeted work. As parent engagement becomes increasingly important in the national public school choice sector, I’m proud to lead an organization on the forefront of leveling the school choice playing field so that all families can compete for quality seats.

On paper, Common Core is a great idea that—if fully realized—could change education significantly for the better. In reality, implementation has been shoddy, poorly thought out, and lazy. Turning good ideas into effective action is hard work, and a lot of that work didn’t get done, leading us to where we are today (decreasing public support, lawsuits, and an increasingly negative tone in the press). The overarching error has been that Common Core supporters didn’t spend nearly enough time talking to normal people during the initial years of implementation. This has led to underestimating problems that should have been obvious and—disastrously—allowing opponents to frame the issue with little resistance. Common Core is a far cry from failure. More than 40 states, D.C., four territories, and the Department of Defense Education Activity have adopted the standards. It’s not going away anytime soon. But the drop in public support and continued vitriol for fairly innocuous public policy (we’re talking about education standards here!) highlights a number of blunders requiring recognition. And some lessons to be learned.

Inequality is all the rage these days. From the president to the new mayor of New York City and even your local movie theater, we have heard about the challenges of income inequality. But it seems that what many people really mean when they talk about inequality is poverty. (And no doubt, as we look back at the launch of the War on Poverty and compare it to the relatively sparse concern for the poor today, such attention is sorely needed.) While inequality often implies a fair amount of poverty, the societal challenges of the two are not the same; and to confuse them can obscure some of the thornier difficulties of inequality.

The Obamas had tea with her, and Jon Stewart asked to adopt her. Malala Yousafzai, the charismatic 16-year-old shot by the Taliban on a school bus, was in Washington, D.C., this month continuing her campaign for girls’ education. When Malala was 12, girls in her region, the Swat Valley in Pakistan, were threatened with violence by the Taliban if they went to class. Children in the United States are privileged to have free access to a public education. However, evidence is coming to light that for some young Americans, access to school is under threat. For minority students, the punishments they receive from their teachers are consistently more severe than those used against their white peers. Astonishingly, African-American students are three times as likely to be suspended from school as their white peers for minor infractions including tardiness and talking. The result of this discipline gap is that black and Latino boys spend more time out of school through multiple suspensions, something that is also known as the “school pushout.” Since school suspension is closely linked to dropout rates, it is no surprise that only 52 percent of black teenage boys and 58 percent of Latinos graduate from high school, compared to 78 percent of their white peers. These boys desperately need a Malala-style advocate of their own. And if they get one, it’s not only these boys who will benefit, but everyone else too.

about

YEP-DC is a nonpartisan group of education professionals who work in research, policy, and practice – and even outside of education. The views expressed here are only those of the attributed author, not YEP-DC. This blog aims to provide a forum for our group’s varied opinions. It also serves as an opportunity for many more professionals in DC and beyond to participate in the ongoing education conversation. We hope you chime in, but we ask that you do so in a considerate, respectful manner. We reserve the right to modify or delete any content or comments. For any more information or for an opportunity to blog, contact us via one of the methods below.

Bloggers

MONICA GRAY is co-founder & president of DreamWakers, an edtech nonprofit. She writes on education innovation and poverty.

LYDIA HALL is a legislative aide in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she works on education, civil rights, and other issues. Lydia is interested in helping to bridge the gap between Capitol Hill and the classroom.

MOSES PALACIOS is an advocate for student rights and works as a Research Manager for the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) - a coalition of urban school districts across the nation. He writes on issues regarding the children of immigrants and students learning English as a second language. His views are his own and not representative of CGCS.

PATRICIA RUANE is aresearch associate at an education nonprofit. She is an editor of Recess. ​LESLIE WELSH is a high school social studies teacher in DC. She is an editor of Recess.